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Europa league Group A matchday 1 review

At last the elite leagues started and what a cracking start it have been. Some of the heavyweights had an easy first round while some others slumped to shocking defeats in both the leagues.. Now lets look back in to who came on top and who flopped in Group A of the Europa league.

FORTUNA DUSSELDORF (66 points) defeated REAL MADRID (44 points)

A big home win for Fortuna over one of the group favorite Real Madrid tells us the fact that every match is gonna spring some surprise later on in the coming weeks. Fortuna was fortunate to have Baines, Mata, Walcott and Bale who gave him a total of 47 points. While his captain RVP and fellow striker Podolski disappointed him with blanks this game week, the above said points coupled with 4 home points were already enough for Fortuna to grab a victory over Real Madrid.

Real Madrid on the other hand had a rather disappointing week scoring just 3 more than the average game week points. His strikers were not up to the mark as all 3 of them Rvp, Fletcher and Ba utterly failed to score this week. While Walcott and Mata gave him 22 points, the other 2 inconsistent midfielders Fellaini and Michu yet again failed to give him some valuable points. Real was unlucky to have Nolan on bench who scored 9 points although this points were not sufficient for him to beat Fortuna. Defense also looked creepy as both Demel and Gibbs gave him 1 point each while Davies who registered yet another clean sheet was the stand out performer.

Things are not looking good for the team right now with Gibbs and Luiz injured and his backup keeper Rudd joining Preston on loan, coupled with Mata being doubtful and Wildcard being already played, Real Madrid will have to surely bring in some good reinforcements before playing his first home game in Europa league against high flying Sampdoria.

SAMPDORIA (66 points) defeated TOULOUSE (64 points)

One of the best matches of this week. Both were fighting hard for the win and ultimately the 4 points home advantage came to the rescue of the home team Sampdoria who beat Toulouse by just 2 points.

While both teams had some good chances to win the game, i think its down to the 4 home points and also the decision of Toulouse to bench Noble that made all the difference in the game. While Sampdoria gained 19 points from defence, Toulouse managed to grab 26 points from his defenders. It was the midfield that made all the difference in this game with Sampdoria choosing Bale gave him the crucial 8 points and total of 32 points whereas Toulouse will be kicking himself not to choose Noble over Cazorla who yet again disappointed him with just 1 point and his midfield giving him a total of 25 points. Had he chose Noble over Cazorla, this entire match result would have changed to Toulouse’s favour.

Both had 3 forwards who gave them 11 and 13 points respectively. Ultimately the game was down to the 4 home points which Sampdoria utilised to its maximum to gain crucial 3 points.

The upcoming matches of this week from this group are also the ones to watch out for..

A rather unlucky Toulouse takes on the in form Fortuna Dusseldorf while struggling Real Madrid welcomes Sampdoria in what seems to be an outright entertaining match.